http://www.inthesetimes.com/archives/tags/election+2006/ In These Times features award-winning investigative reporting about corporate malfeasance and government wrongdoing, insightful analysis of national and international affairs, and sharp cultural criticism about events and ideas that matter. en-us Expression Engine jessica@inthesetimes.com seamus@inthesetimes.com Tue, 15 Aug 2006 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2784/it_came_from_the_beltway/ To illustrate how human consciousness cannot be understood solely through observable behavior, cognitive scientists came up with a thought experiment known as the "zombie problem." They defined a zombie as a mindless drone, a mere automaton, but one that behaves in ways completely indistinguishable from other sentient human beings. As philosopher Daniel Dennett put the problem rather chillingly, "Since [external behavior] is all we get to see of our friends and neighbors, some of your best friends may be zombies." What makes this experiment relevant today, of course, is that it prevents us from saying definitively that Joe Lieberman is a zombie, despite all the external evidence. But more careful judgments can be rendered on Somnambulant Joe and his Aug.… politics elections election 2006 Chris Hedges Mon, 18 Sep 2006 05:00:02 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2823/wave_of_party_switchers_hits_republicans/ A trend of local, below-the-radar party-switches is undercutting Republicans as they face the sternest challenge in a decade to one-party control of Congress and several state legislatures. Such party-switching by elected officials often indicates that the label they are shedding has lost appeal and foreshadows poor performance at the polls. Some recent switchers are exiting GOP ranks with a bang. Distorted priorities, the federal deficit and the Iraq war are common themes in their announcements. And in a direct swipe at the far-right ideology that has become a governing credo in the Bush years, they cite intolerance in the party as the chief reason for leaving. "The moderate Republican has been pushed aside for the extreme right wing," Oklahoma state… politics elections election 2006 Chris Hedges Wed, 18 Oct 2006 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2852/sosing_the_vote/ Mark Ritchie knows how to get people to the polls. In 1986, he founded the League of Rural Voters and in 2004, he founded November 2, a nonpartisan voter registration that registered 5 million voters. So this year, instead of returning to his job at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, he decided to run for secretary of state. "I became aware that free and fair elections are the way we pick policymakers who really matter," says Ritchie. "The secretary of state in my state, like in other states, had transformed her office into a partisan arm of the Republican Party. Nonpartisan administration of voting, he says, is the only way to guarantee "free and fair… elections election 2006 politics Chris Hedges Thu, 19 Oct 2006 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2841/the_abramoff_babies/ In 1972, after Richard Nixon crushed George McGovern by 503 electoral votes, the press rushed to declare the Democratic Party dead. Yet two short years later, Nixon was gone, Watergate and its associated crimes were exposed, and the Democrats had a banner year, gaining 49 seats in the House and five in the Senate. At the time, the mid-term victories seemed like the beginning of a new era and, predictably, the press lavished sympathetic coverage on the 74 freshmen Democratic lawmakers, dubbing them the "Watergate babies." But 1974 proved to be a false dawn. The Watergate babies ran and won on a platform of "reform," but it was the kind of reform they pursued that proved to be most consequential.… politics elections election 2006 Chris Hedges Mon, 23 Oct 2006 05:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2850/where_the_seats_are/ Poised to assume their respective posts atop new congressional Democratic majorities, Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) and Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) can be forgiven a certain giddiness as the 2006 midterm elections approach. Pelosi recently told Time that establishment Democrats in Washington "can't even believe the fact that I'm going to become Speaker, but they're getting used to it." A bit more cautious but no less hopeful, Reid has noted that "history's on [the] side" of the minority party in a president's second midterm cycle. To become the first female House Speaker, Pelosi will need to gain 15 seats. For Reid to become Senate majority leader, Democrats must net six new senators. A year ago, talk of an electoral upheaval of… Politics Election 2006 Elections Voting Congress Chris Hedges Wed, 25 Oct 2006 06:00:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2870/face_to_face_with_the_fundamentalist_base/ It's been a bad season for the GOP. Even before the Mark Foley scandal broke, and former Deputy Director of the Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives David Kuo published his explosive book, Tempting Faith: An Inside Story of Political Seduction, there were signs that the relationship between Republicans and their evangelical Christian base was beginning to worsen. In early September, a Pew poll showed that a growing number of evangelicals were becoming disaffected with the Republican Party. Seventy-eight percent of white evangelicals voted Republican in 2004, yet only 57 percent told Pew they were inclined toward that party now. Then, an institute linked to People for the American Way released its own survey of values challenging "the rhetoric around… politics religion and spirituality elections election 2006 Chris Hedges Thu, 26 Oct 2006 05:07:00 -0500 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2871/go_midwest_and_border_state_young_progressives/ In his impressive tome, American Populism: A Social History 1877-1898, historian Robert C. McMath, Jr., discussed how populist reformers "understood that old rules and values were crumbling, and that powerful new economic institutions buttressed by the state threatened their independence." This description of corporate-created economic hardship in parts of America during the late 19th century is equally fitting for the environment that confronts residents today in a swath of the country that ranges from southern Kentucky (where Republicans struck their first blow in 1994, taking over a Democratic seat in a special election), through Indiana, Ohio and Western New York. It is this region that can help Democrats secure the short-term political gains and hone the long-term message that will… politics elections election 2006 Chris Hedges Mon, 30 Oct 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2846/dueling_democrats/ In its widely-circulated August profile of House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, Time noted, "House Democrats have been more unified in their voting than at any other time in the past quarter-century, with members on average voting the party line 88 percent of the time in 2005." The numbers don't lie. But they do obscure a little-discussed truth: Divisions in the Democratic Party are sure to grow larger, whether the party wins or loses the mid-term elections. For the better part of 20 years, Democratic divisions have seethed under America's political surface, with only the rare contested presidential primary providing a release valve. Any number of self-defeating pathologies emanating from inside the Democratic Party have worked to raise the temperature: From… elections election 2006 politics government: administration Chris Hedges Tue, 31 Oct 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2874/fear_and_voting_in_the_usa/ I listened as his voice cracked. At a major national conference, a colleague from another university--an eminent historian--could barely contain his anguish as he referred to the recent detention bill and its gutting of habeas corpus. A few hours later I listened to two young people who work in the film industry talk about how they fully expected this election to be stolen. Driving through Oakland, Calif., I saw a movie marquee urging people to demand paper ballots from electronic voting machines so there's a record of their votes. In my classes I have been asking my students why they don't follow the news, and they say, "Why bother--it's all spin and you can't believe it." As the news media… Elections election 2006 politics media books Chris Hedges Thu, 02 Nov 2006 06:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2885/middle_america_confronts_its_own_taliban/ Overshadowed by Ned Lamont's Aug. 8 primary win for Senate in Connecticut was an ugly ouster the same day of a moderate GOP incumbent congressman from Michigan, Joe Schwarz. In his first term in Congress, Schwarz, a doctor, backed lifting the ban on stem-cell research and raising the minimum wage. But in the low-turnout primary, he narrowly lost to Tim Walberg, a minister who took money from the anti-immigrant Minutemen and had to deny involvement in an episode of antigay vandalism at Schwarz's campaign office. Walberg's win is the latest by a far-right insurgency in the state. Since 2000, this small group has shoehorned attacks on abortion rights, intolerance against gays, and even racist appeals into the strategy of the… politics elections election 2006 Chris Hedges Fri, 03 Nov 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2900/the_odd_couple_nixon_and_lieberman/ There's a taboo in American politics against using the "N"-word--comparing a politician to Richard Nixon. But after spending five years writing a book on Nixon, I couldn't help but notice some similarities with Connecticut's junior senator--and I don't just mean the mystery of how Joe Lieberman spent the mysterious $387,000 his campaign listed as "petty cash" in the days before the August 8 primary. I'm not the first to point out Nixonian traits in Lieberman. There's an ad going around the Internet that shows clips from a Nixon speech on Vietnam, then similar words from Joe Lieberman. The senator has commented of it, "that's not the kind of debate we ought to have." But speaking as one who knows Richard… politics elections election 2006 Chris Hedges Mon, 06 Nov 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2908/readying_for_election_day/ As Election Day approaches, the staff at In These Times thought it might be interesting to do a round-up of some of our bigger election-related stories from the past year. ITT Senior Editor Christopher Hayes got the ball rolling last December with a cover story titled "Who is Sherrod Brown?" As Brown appears all but a shoo-in to become Ohio's junior senator tomorrow, that's a question you'll want to know the answer to. In March, Sam Seder interviewed Democratic Senate candidate Ned Lamont, back when he was little more than a twinkle in the netroots' eye. As he and Joe Lieberman head to the finish line of a hard-fought race in Connecticut, check out "Why Ned Lamont Is A Democrat."… elections election 2006 politics activism Chris Hedges Tue, 07 Nov 2006 05:00:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2910/voting_security_issues_plague_maryland/ Critics of electronic voting will be watching Maryland closely today to see how Diebold's electronic voting machines perform. But no matter who wins the elections, and regardless of whether the state's $106 million touchscreen, paperless voting system performs better today than it did during the problem-plagued September 12 primary, advocates in Maryland of honest, verifiable elections plan to redouble their efforts in 2007 and beyond. A hotly contested gubernatorial race and the continuing controversy that surrounds State Board of Elections administrator Linda H. Lamone and Diebold Election Systems guarantee that the legislature will revisit the issue of how Maryland runs elections, whether Republican incumbent Gov. Robert L. Ehrlich Jr. wins another term or Baltimore Mayor Martin O'Malley unseats him. Maryland… Elections election 2006 politics Voting Chris Hedges Wed, 08 Nov 2006 18:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2914/progressive_caucus_rising/ Don't buy all the crap coming from GOP talking-point memos or the blather from mainstream pundits. The midterm elections do not signal a move to the center. Yes, a few conservative Democrats were elected, but the big gainers were progressives. In particular, the Congressional Progressive Caucus is on the rise. No longer will Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) be able to grab the gavel and run, as he did at a hearing last year when faced with pointed questions from Congressional Democrats about the PATRIOT Act, Guantanamo and the "war on terror." During a hearing, Sensenbrenner, the chair of the House Judiciary Committee, used his standing to abruptly declare the committee's public hearing on the PATRIOT Act over. He cut… Election 2006 Elections Politics Voting Chris Hedges Fri, 10 Nov 2006 05:00:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2917/learning_from_lamont/ It was raining hard when I returned my rental car at Hartford's Bradley International Airport on Wednesday--the weather was not helping to raise my spirits from the night before. I had been working as a strategist and rapid response staffer for Ned Lamont's Senate campaign against pro-war incumbent Joe Lieberman, and we had just lost the general election by 10 points. Needless to say, I wasn't happy. But my mood lifted when the middle-aged woman at the Avis counter said, "I voted for him." She was pointing at the Lamont for Senate button still pinned to my rumpled jacket lapel. During a day where I, like thousands of others in Connecticut, were looking for answers, her simple statement -- "I… Elections Politics Election 2006 Chris Hedges Fri, 10 Nov 2006 16:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2918/what_did_the_voters_say/ In the hours after the Democrats resoundingly won control of the House and, narrowly, the Senate, the great spin debate on the meaning of the election opened up. Did the Republicans fall because of the war in Iraq? Corruption? The economy? Bush? How about "all of the above"? Understanding the voters' motivations is critical for understanding how Democrats can build on this victory and what strategy they should adopt. Predictably, many conservatives are blaming the Republican Party, arguing that Americans rejected not conservatism but party politicians who acted corruptly and incompetently. And center-right Democrats are claiming the election is a mandate for center-right politics. Anti-war strategists read it as primarily a repudiation of the war. And AFL-CIO president John Sweeney… Economy Election 2006 Elections Voting Politics Chris Hedges Tue, 28 Nov 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2924/embracing_populism/ It is a blissful yet bewildering feeling. You fight so long, endure so much establishment belittlement, and suddenly you win. That's what happened on Nov. 7: We the populists won. After our fully warranted victory laps and back patting, we must review Nov. 7's lessons. If Democrats want to hold a governing majority, they must see the election for what it was: a mandate for economic populism and a battle cry against Big Money's war on middle-class Americans. Candidates all over the country talked about how corporate lobbyists have manipulated our trade policy to crush workers, our energy policy to harm consumers and our health care policy to hurt families. Polls show populism (a.k.a., challenging corporate economic power) is the… Election 2006 Elections Politics Voting Chris Hedges Thu, 30 Nov 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2927/the_cbc_and_speaker_pelosi/ The Democratic Party's resounding victory in the midterm elections is cause for celebration. The ideology-driven policies of the Bush administration (and its congressional sycophants) have entangled the nation in a net of global animosity and widened the domestic gap between rich and poor. If nothing else, the triumph of congressional Democrats will bring greater focus on the Bushites' failures. However, the midterm shakeup probably won't mean much of a change in the Bush regime's foreign policy, except perhaps a change in tone. Congressional realignment does offer an opportunity to tackle the domestic problems that have drifted away from the national consciousness. Just one example: widening racial disparities in the criminal justice system are endangering the viability of the African-American family.… politics elections election 2006 race Chris Hedges Thu, 30 Nov 2006 05:00:01 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2926/turning_back_the_tax_revolt/ Isn't it nice to get some good news? Finally, electoral victories are paving the way for real progressive success. Even better, ballot measure victories have even provided the beginnings of a progressive policy playbook. At the federal level, narrow victory margins and the continued presence of the Bush administration are likely to stymie progressive reforms. The states, however, are a different story. Democrats now control the "trifecta"--Senate, House, and Governorship--in 15 states. Republicans, in comparison, hold only ten. And in a number of other states, Democratic majorities have Republican governors who campaigned on progressive values. Even better news comes in the form of the apparent end of the tax revolt: voters rejected a number of so-called "Taxpayers' Bill of Rights"… Economy Politics congress elections election 2006 Chris Hedges Thu, 07 Dec 2006 05:00:00 -0600 http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/2932/danger_a_policy_with_no_brains/ Here at the University of Michigan, where the majority of the students and faculty are not right-wing, religious-zealot Republicans pining for the rapture, there has been elation over the election results and the massive, nationwide rejection of Team Bush's clenched fist around our collective necks. But it was also a day of great disappointment, as Michigan voters passed the cynically titled "Michigan Civil Rights Initiative," (MCRI) which bans the use of affirmative action by all public institutions in the state. Here we see--in a state that voted Democratic--the ongoing success of conservatives in using race as a wedge issue, and the language of "race neutrality" and "an end to racial preferences" to do so. Racial resentments, disguised as a totally… race gender election 2006 Chris Hedges